"That means over 1,200 trees were used in order to run a program that only lasted a few days."
By most accounts, the Cash For Clunkers government program was a big success. The government funded the exchange of over 690,000 vehicles and the claimed impact is a 58% increase in fuel efficiency for those drivers. Plus the program claims it will create or save 42,000 jobs for the second half of the year as a result. Not bad for $2.88 billion dollars. But was it efficient?
Here are four articles I recently read on the discussion of gaining efficiency:
Time.com http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914602,00.html
EnvironmentalLeader.com -http://www.environmentalleader.com/2009/09/02/cash-for-clunkers-upgrades-fuel-efficiency-58/
TCPalm.com - http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/aug/17/devils-in-the-details-cash-for-clunkers-problems/
Fox News - http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2009/08/05/lurita-doan-cash/
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his last article is a Fox News opinion that discusses the estimated administrative costs, which few people are talking about. It is estimated that the government spent $12 million on handling just four of the forms used in the program. The CARS program required a 13-page application to be filled out and processed for each vehicle plus additional documents. It took over 1,000 people just to process the paperwork and the government was forced to extend the deadline to complete the job (not to mention the number of people whose forms were rejected due to errors or omissions and had to start over again).
In my quest to eliminate paper, automate processes and speed up transactions (not to mention save trees!), programs like this one highlight the need for enterprise forms automation. If all the forms used in this program were printed out (not including rejected forms that were discarded), then at least 10 million pages would have been used (not counting duplicate pages printed on receiving fax lines).
That means over 1,200 trees were used in order to run a program that only lasted a few days.
An enterprise forms automation solution could have:
1. Saved all 1,200+ trees (or at least half considering some documents would have been printed for consumers to keep)
2. Eliminated 95% of the forms processing errors in real-time
3. Reduced program administrative costs by 75% or more
4. Automated dealer reimbursements
5. Captured all data and performed all signatures online
What do you think? Was the program worth it?
